Crispy Hooligan

Tension – Decay Review

By Crispy Hooligan on February 6, 2022 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 18 comments

“When I came down with damnable Omicron recently, I needed all the comfort food and music I could get. Like comfort food, comfort music is almost guaranteed to contain a robust helping of processed cheese baked into recipes from a previous era, so I was thrilled when Dr. Metal Guy handed down the pixelated, Nosferatu-bedecked cover of Tension’s
debut, Decay. Add in that Dying Victims Productions had put out two of my favorite trad/speed albums of 2021 in Significant Point’s Into the Storm and Heavy Sentence’s Bang to Rights, and my excitement was reaching a literal fever pitch. Could Tension recapture the magic of those releases from early last year to kick off 2022?” Keeping the olde ways.

Autumn’s Child – Zenith Review

By Crispy Hooligan on January 18, 2022 in Reviews, Hair Metal, Hard Rock, 22 comments

“Night Flight Orchestra’s sizable following in the metal community has evidently attracted the attention of Swedish AOR (always on radio) scene fixture Mikael Erlandsson. Erlandsson has been prolific in the Swedish AOR scene over the past two decades, releasing fourteen studio albums with Last Autumn’s Dream and now three albums with successor Autumn’s Child. For Erlandsson’s most recent project to reach its Zenith, he must walk the knife’s edge of writing songs that fit within a commercialized framework without simultaneously sounding tired and rote. To pull off this magic trick again and again in front of AOR audiences that have seen it all would be impressive indeed.” Hard rock in a hard place.

Charnel Altar – Abatement of the Sun Review

By Crispy Hooligan on January 16, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 15 comments

“Aussie trio Charnel Altar faces the dual challenges of releasing a debut album in mid-December and standing out among a crowded field of label-mates, joining Blood Harvest’s packed December offering with their unique toxic sludge of blackened death-doom. While not always to the album’s benefit, black metal instincts pervade Abatement of the Sun, propelling their filth and gore-covered Holden hatchback through the deepest doom-filled muck.” Destroying the Sun.

Dormant Ordeal – The Grand Scheme of Things Review

By Crispy Hooligan on December 7, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 33 comments

“Dr. Wvrm highlighted Poland’s Dormant Ordeal’s We Had It Coming as a Thing You Might Have Missed. While Wvrm was overwhelmingly positive, he noted that the band had room and serious potential for more exploration. Often third albums make or break bands, as they either transcend their influences in a burst of self-actualization or recede into the unforgiving metal landscape.” Is this n00b more reasonable in their assessment of the new Dormant Ordeal? Or is it still raining 4s?